README.md
1 # OpenCensus Agent for Java
2
3 [![Build Status][travis-image]][travis-url]
4 [![Windows Build Status][appveyor-image]][appveyor-url]
5 [![Maven Central][maven-image]][maven-url]
6
7 The *OpenCensus Agent for Java* collects and sends latency data about your Java process to
8 OpenCensus backends such as Zipkin, Stackdriver Trace, etc. for analysis and visualization.
9
10
11 ## Features
12
13 The *OpenCensus Agent for Java* is in an early development stage. The following features are
14 currently implemented:
15
16 TODO(stschmidt): Update README.md along with implementation.
17
18
19 ### Automatic context propagation for Executors
20
21 The context of the caller of [Executor#execute](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/Executor.html#execute-java.lang.Runnable-)
22 is automatically propagated to the submitted Runnable.
23
24
25 ### Automatic context propagation for Threads
26
27 The context of the caller of [Thread#start](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/lang/Thread.html#start--)
28 is automatically propagated to the new thread.
29
30
31 ### Preliminary support for tracing
32
33 As a proof-of-concept, the agent wraps the execution of
34 [URL#getContent](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/net/URL.html#getContent--) in a new
35 trace span.
36
37
38 ## Design Ideas
39
40 We see tracing as a cross-cutting concern which the *OpenCensus Agent for Java* weaves into
41 existing Java bytecode (the application and its libraries) at runtime, typically when first loading
42 the concerned bytecode.
43
44 This approach allows us to instrument arbitrary code without having to touch the source code of the
45 application or its dependencies. Furthermore, we don't require the application owner to upgrade any
46 of the application's third-party dependencies to specific versions. As long as the interface (e.g.
47 [java.sql.Driver#connect](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/sql/Driver.html#connect-java.lang.String-java.util.Properties-))
48 stays as-is across the supported versions, the Java agent's bytecode weaver will be able to
49 instrument the code.
50
51 The *OpenCensus Agent for Java* uses [Byte Buddy](http://bytebuddy.net/), a widely used and
52 well-maintained bytecode manipulation library, for instrumenting selected Java methods at class
53 load-time. Which Java methods we want to intercept/instrument obviously depends on the library
54 (MongoDB vs. Redis, etc.) and the application.
55
56
57 ## Installation and Usage
58
59 Download the latest version of the *OpenCensus Agent for Java* `.jar` file
60 from [Maven Central][maven-url]. Store it somewhere on disk.
61
62 To enable the *OpenCensus Agent for Java* for your application, add the option
63 `-javaagent:path/to/opencensus-contrib-agent-X.Y.Z.jar` to the invocation of the `java`
64 executable as shown in the following example. Replace `X.Y.Z` with the actual version number.
65
66 ```shell
67 java -javaagent:path/to/opencensus-contrib-agent-X.Y.Z.jar ...
68 ```
69
70
71 ## Configuration
72
73 The *OpenCensus Agent for Java* uses [Typesafe's configuration
74 library](https://lightbend.github.io/config/) for all user-configurable settings. Please refer to
75 [reference.conf](src/main/resources/reference.conf) for the available configuration knobs and their
76 defaults.
77
78 You can override the default configuration in [different
79 ways](https://github.com/lightbend/config/blob/7cae92d3ae3ff9d06f1db43800232d2f73c6fe44/README.md#standard-behavior).
80 For example, to disable the automatic context propagation for Executors, add a system property as
81 follows:
82
83 ```shell
84 java -javaagent:path/to/opencensus-contrib-agent-X.Y.Z.jar \
85 -Dopencensus.contrib.agent.context-propagation.executor.enabled=false \
86 ...
87 ```
88
89
90 [travis-image]: https://travis-ci.org/census-instrumentation/opencensus-java.svg?branch=master
91 [travis-url]: https://travis-ci.org/census-instrumentation/opencensus-java
92 [appveyor-image]: https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/hxthmpkxar4jq4be/branch/master?svg=true
93 [appveyor-url]: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/opencensusjavateam/opencensus-java/branch/master
94 [maven-image]: https://maven-badges.herokuapp.com/maven-central/io.opencensus/opencensus-contrib-agent/badge.svg
95 [maven-url]: https://maven-badges.herokuapp.com/maven-central/io.opencensus/opencensus-contrib-agent
96